


With Love, Serenity

by b0nes



Series: Here Lies Fireteam Maelstrom, Survived By The Exodus Family & Associates [1]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Multi, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:53:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27712304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/b0nes/pseuds/b0nes
Summary: Never forget to write, no matter how far you are from home.Or, a series of short "letters" to the Traveler, recorded by the Ghost, Serenity, during her travels across Sol with her Guardian, Wolf-16.
Series: Here Lies Fireteam Maelstrom, Survived By The Exodus Family & Associates [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2026865
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6





	1. Ghosts of Europa

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Hiraeth](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22186345) by [Tafferling](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tafferling/pseuds/Tafferling). 



> i got this idea from the incredible fic [hiraeth](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22186345) by tafferling! the idea of ghosts essentially writing home is so darling to me, so i wanted to play around with it a little bit.
> 
> canon characters are mentioned in passing, and i'll add note tags where necessary!  
> also of note: none of these will be posted linearly because i'm not writing them linearly. just when an idea strikes. i hope you like them!
> 
>  **warnings for this chapter** include spoilers for the beyond light dlc and passing mentions of severe trauma. yk, exo stuff. :)

_Dear Traveler,_

We haven't been back to the Tower in quite some time. With the exception of that incredible light show a few weeks ago, of course, I can safely say that Wolf and I return to the city only when strictly necessary. Ship or Sparrow repairs mostly. Hunters. You know how they are.

Admittedly, since we lost the Hunter Vanguard, getting my Guardian to come back at all is more of a challenge every day. On the plus side, he's become a somewhat handy mechanic when I can convince him that painting the Sparrow red with orange flames won't make it go faster.

The trip from Europa was almost silent, as was much of the time spent there after the death of Eramis. There's no pre-Golden Age music slamming through the speakers of his jump ship or his Sparrow. No triumphant howl as we rocket away with tech stolen back from the Fallen, their arc fire chasing us into the atmosphere. Just a chilling silence, a cold efficiency. "Robotic" seems inappropriate to say now, but Wolf's normal flair and rambunctious energy is just... gone. I can see that he's tired. And there's nothing I can do for him. 

On the flight home, agitation is threaded through him so tightly I worry he may burst, a strange new coldness detached from the Darkness singing in his core. He handled that part a lot better than what came after. I think, to him, it was just part of the job; A logical step in the direction of keeping humanity safe. Unfocused as he can be, Wolf has always taken being a Guardian seriously. 

The Stranger seemed to imply that she and Wolf's people are predisposed to that kind of thing. It's troubling, but he seemed alright after the worst of it had passed. I had no trouble rezzing him once he had full control of his Stasis abilities... I just wish the Eliksni and the Darkness had been the worst we'd had to face there. Eliksni we can handle together. Darkness we can handle together. They're both a part of something so much bigger than us, but everything that happened in Bray Exoscience and across that frozen moon was personal. Deeply so. 

Word passed down the Guardian grapevine quickly, as it often does when new discoveries are made, but the buzz of excitement over learning more about the Exo people had very quickly extinguished, even before we left Europa. I think some people felt they might have jumped the gun when they realized just what kind of person Clovis Bray was. What he did to people, just to serve his own purposes. 

And Traveler, we have seen the dead. Countless smoldering corpses littering battlefields. We have challenged the Hive and despite everything have come back singing. Our Guardians are built for combat, but I don't think the challenge of combat quite stacks up to being confronted with a terrible legacy that you do not remember and never asked for. 

Europa is littered with the bodies of dead Exos. Dozens. Hundreds underground in various states of disassembly or destruction. Perhaps thousands beyond that, lying forgotten under the ice. People that never made it to the surface. People who died suffering and so afraid... Some likely just empty shells, dead on arrival. It was difficult for him. And how could it not be?

Watching the shift from excitement to distress as we unearthed more and more was heartbreaking. Finally, a chance for answers, and it turned out we never should have asked our questions in the first place. It chipped away at our resolve. Wolf-16 is hardly a quiet person. You know this, Traveler, from watching over him. He's loud and obnoxious and inquisitive and stubborn, and those traits are a constant through every iteration. He likes to talk, and so this silence is worrisome. I'd hesitate to admit it out loud, but Wolf is... let's say _sensitive_ , on top of being a loudmouth. I've stayed by his side through six resets and each time is a painful experience for both of us. And now a painful reminder. All Ghosts who are partnered with Exo Guardians will experience this at one point or another. Having to watch your Guardian experience the worst of a terminal psychological breakdown, hoping that being there when they wake up again will be enough. It's terrifying, dear Traveler.

As we slip through the crowded tower courtyard, I keep my eye on my Guardian. He's tense, optics forward. I see his fingers curl into fists and I see a pair of human Titans relaxing under an awning pause in their chatter to watch us pass. I see their eyes flit briefly across the metal body of my Guardian and their conversation fully halts, one leans closer to the other and they whisper. They mean nothing by it, of course. They've surely read the reports that have come back from the front lines; all Exos across the solar system have been changed in some way by the news flying across feeds. Human and Awoken communities struggle to find ways to help their friends, their loved ones, but what can you say to that, truly?

When he catches them looking and they look away, he pulls his hood up and ducks his head. I know this can't be easy for him. For any of his people. But we have to visit the gunsmith, because Banshee-44 is the only person who knows how to fix the Ace of Spades, and I can tell Wolf is dreading facing him again after what we've learned. I can only assume it gets worse from here and all over again I'm worried for my vibrant and chaotic Guardian whose been so quiet and so tense for so many days. 

Maybe tonight he'll sleep easier, far away from the ghosts of Europa. 

If only for a few hours. 

_With love and deepest sorrow,_

_Serenity_


	2. Little Souprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's the little surprises that keep her on her metaphorical toes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **warnings for this chapter** include major character death and the subtleties of grief and loneliness.

_Dearest Traveler,_

Sometimes it's hard to believe that the same Guardian who waged a one-man war across the Reef in the name of vengeance and grief is the same one who dives into canyons on his Sparrow trying to "catch sick ups". Wolf-16 is a complicated guy, I think. More than he really lets anyone think. 

Today I asked him if he thought he'd ever been in love. Sometimes we talk about weird things to pass the time, and the topic is unavoidable during the Crimson Days celebration in the City. When Wolf spent a few extra seconds lingering on a gift that matched the occasion, I felt compelled. It was a dark red Hunter's cloak with intricate golden stitchwork in the shape of hearts and swirls. Oh, it was _lovely_.

He was quiet for a few seconds after I asked, and then he shrugged and left the gift where he'd found it, moving on to some other thing that caught his interest. He told me that he had some vague memories from a lifetime ago, "some kind of love em/lose em situation" were his words. I remembered that one of course; A human and their daughter. A memory of illness and loss that I'd keep to myself. He hadn't taken that well. I suppose I never fully realized how deep that river ran, but it was my first experience with a total reboot of my Guardian. Maybe someday I'll tell you about that one. 

"I mean now," I asked him, trying to sound more persistent, and his reaction in between watching a pair of Guardians with their elbows affectionately linked and some hopeless young man approaching the gunsmith with a small, lovingly decorated, box was to shrug again. "I dunno why you're askin', I think you prolly know," he told me, and left that in the air while his optics traced the Lost Lights memorial. He propped a small red ticket against its ornamental face and simply moved on.

A soup voucher.

For all I know about Wolf-16, some things still manage to surprise me. 

_Yours truly,_

_With love lost and found and lost again,_

_Serenity_


End file.
